There's always time for tea and cake, well in my book at least.
Hailing back to the 19th Century, Afternoon Tea was enjoyed by our foodie ancestor, Anna Duchess of Bedford. Deeming dinner time too late, and short of a green juice as a 3pm pick-me-up, Anna was known to nibble through tea and snacks in her room to tide her over till dinner. This developed into the Afternoon Tea we all know and love now.
I'd consider myself to be an almost direct descendant from Anna as I'm usually pretty good at the whole afternoon snack thing. My work locker and handbag are never void of a selection of snacks and tea.
To launch Patisserie Valerie's new Afternoon Tea Menu, their Soho venue hosted an Afternoon Tea Party.
Complete with finger sandwiches, mini quiches, scones, mini patisserie and a choice of tea or coffee for £25 for two, or £30 with a glass of Prosecco each. Possibly one of the most value for money Afternoon Teas I have come across - £25-30 for two people is pretty darn good.
My favourite parts include the chicken, pesto & sunblazed tomato sandwiches and mini tomato & mixed pepper quiches - I could have quite happily scoffed my way through a whole plate of those.
It goes without saying that the patisserie tier was also pretty special. Light and airy mousse slices of mixed berry and double chocolate. Perfectly formed mini Victoria sandwiches. Indulgent chocolate eclairs and fruit scones that Mary Berry would be proud of.
I also did some window shopping on the way out and am looking forward to trying out their new custom cake creator tool when ordering celebration cakes (you can't make you're own birthday cake, can you now?!)
To see a full list of participating cafes, visit the Patisserie Valerie site. No reservation is needed for Afternoon Tea, but is advised for larger groups.
What's your favourite thing about Afternoon Tea?
Thank you to Patisserie Valerie for inviting me, all opinions are my own.
